The Space Needle turns 50

Seattle Center is celebrating the 50th anniversary of the 1962 World’s Fair, by kicking off The Next 50, which will include six months of exhibits, concerts, festivals, films and lectures, performing arts, sporting events, attractions and more. The Next 50 officially started on April 21 with several special events on the Seattle Center campus, featuring free outdoor entertainment and $1 rides to the top of the needle that day.

If you’re passing through Seattle or you happen to make your way to the Seattle Center any time soon, you’ll notice that there’s something different about the Space Needle. The roof of the needle, according to King 5, was painted “Galaxy Gold,” the original color of the needle’s roof in 1962.

According to Seattle Center, The Next 50 also challenges our regional leadership and future development in: arts, culture and design; history; sustainable futures; science and technology; global health; learning; commerce and the innovative economy; and civic action. You can visit the link to the Seattle Center’s The Next 50 to find events and other ways to get involved and for a list of events and attractions addressing these specific subjects:

http://www.seattlecenter.com/thenextfifty/home.aspx

There will be events and attractions held at the Seattle Center and the surrounding area from April 21 to October 21. The Seattle World’s Fair started and ended on the same dates fifty years ago. The Space Needle and Alweg monorail were constructed for the World’s Fair.

 The theme of the World’s Fair evolved quickly from a festival of the American West to a festival celebrating space, science, and the future. The 1962 fair featured a Skyride with bucket-like cars suspended from cables that moved to the Puyallup Fairgrounds over thirty years ago.

There were several exhibits held at the Seattle Center during the World’s Fair with over half of the structures built for the fair being torn down afterward. Where the Pacific Science Center now stands, was the U.S. Science Pavilion during the 1962 Fair. To get a snapshot of what the Fair and science and technology advancements were like during 1962, you can go online and watch Seattle World’s Fair 1962 – “Century 21 Calling,” by visiting:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RiVidhEI8XQ

Or you can watch “Seattle World’s Fair 1962” by visiting:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=16Q7bruDMVc

It’s fun to try and notice what structures in the Seattle Center are still around today and how life is different fifty years into the future, based off these films. It might inspire you to think about what life might be like fifty years from now and think about what you can do to shape the future.